Adriana walked briskly through the castle’s silent stone corridors. Anger, disappointment, and pain churned within her chest. She knew who Kesha truly was. She knew it was all manipulation. But the pain still suffocated her—not because Ryan believed Kesha, but because he chose silence, allowing the wound to fester.
“I trusted you, Ryan,” Adriana whispered softly as she reached the back garden of the castle, the place where she usually went to breathe. Her eyes stared into the distance, trying to steady herself. “But trust also needs to be defended.”
Just as she lifted her gaze to the star-speckled night sky, a sharp whistling sound tore through the silence. An arrow shot out from the dark forest, narrowly missing her shoulder. Adriana gasped and spun around.
The arrow had embedded itsel
